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Richert, Clarkson, Andrews and Oliver highlight some great TV moments filled with tears

Boy, tears have been flowing lately on local and national television and it has made for some great TV.

On his final day Wednesday night, Channel 4 reporter George Richert choked back tears as he thanked Channel 4 management, photographers, co-workers and his wife before kissing co-anchor Jacquie Walker.

It was a very moving speech by one of the best and most-beloved TV reporters in town. Richert is becoming the director of communications for the Catholic Diocese.

Last week when the final 10 performers on the farewell season of “American Idol” were revealed, a very pregnant Kelly Clarkson appeared as a guest judge. The first “American Idol” winner, Clarkson was an excellent judge.

And at the end of the show, she broke into tears as she performed a song, “Piece by Piece,” about fatherhood that she has explained honored her husband. She wasn’t the only one in tears. So was judge Keith Urban as he watched.

If you haven’t seen Clarkson’s performance online or On Demand, I encourage you to find it.

Erin Andrews, the former ESPN sportscaster who now works for Fox Sports, was in tears on the witness stand this week during her $75 million law suit against a hotel firm and the stalker who was given the room next to her in 2008 before he rigged a peep hole to film her nude. The secretly-recorded footage eventually landed on the internet, devastating Andrews.

After watching her cry, I thought for sure the hotel chain would realize she would be very sympathetic to the jury and it would ask its lawyers to try to negotiate a settlement.

Then it was reported Wednesday that a defense witness who works for the hotel being sued had watched the video recently with some friends at dinner, though he claimed it wasn’t his idea and he tried to stop it.

When that word leaked, my immediate thought was the hotel better negotiate a settlement even quicker than I originally thought.

It is impossible not to sympathize with Andrews even if you don’t believe the video harmed her career. Unfortunately, the attention from the nightly news coverage of the trial most likely will mean there will be millions more people looking at the video that has devastated Andrews.

Finally, HBO's “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” may have moved some people to tears laughing at Oliver’s devastating take on the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, Donald Trump. It included the nugget that his ancestors centuries ago were originally named Drumpf.

It is a hilarious segment that makes a case against Trump that the Republican establishment has failed to do and which the remaining candidates will likely try to do again during the debate on Fox tonight. If you haven’t seen Oliver’s performance, I suggest you go online or On Demand to find it. I expect you may laugh so hard that you may end up in tears.